''Check Your Head'' is the third studio album by American
rap rock group
Beastie Boys, released by
Grand Royal
Grand Royal was the Los Angeles, California-based vanity record label set up in 1992 by rap group Beastie Boys in conjunction with Capitol Records after the group left Def Jam Recordings.
''Grand Royal'' was also the name of a magazine written ...
and
Capitol Records on April 21, 1992. Three years elapsed between the releases of the band's second studio album ''
Paul's Boutique
''Paul's Boutique'' is the second studio album by American hip hop group Beastie Boys, released on July 25, 1989, by Capitol Records. Produced by the Dust Brothers, the album is composed almost entirely from samples, and was recorded over two ...
'' and ''Check Your Head'', which was recorded at the G-Son Studios in
Atwater Village
Atwater Village is a neighborhood in the 13th district of Los Angeles, California. Much of Atwater Village lies in the fertile Los Angeles River flood plain. Located in the northeast region of the city, Atwater borders Griffith Park and Silver L ...
in 1991 under the guidance of producer
Mario Caldato Jr., the group's third producer in as many albums. Less
sample
Sample or samples may refer to:
Base meaning
* Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set
* Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal
* Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of s ...
-heavy than their previous records, the album features instrumental contributions from all three members:
Adam Horovitz on guitar,
Adam Yauch
Adam Nathaniel Yauch ( ; August 5, 1964 – May 4, 2012), better known under the stage name MCA, was an American rapper, bass player, filmmaker and a founding member of the hip hop group Beastie Boys. Besides his musical work, he also directed ...
on bass guitar, and
Mike Diamond
Michael Louis Diamond (born November 20, 1965), better known as Mike D, is an American rapper, musician, and music producer. He is best known as a founding member of the hip hop group Beastie Boys.
Early life
Diamond was born in New York City ...
on drums.
The album was re-released in a number of formats in 2009, with 16 b-sides and rarities, as well as a commentary track, included as bonus material. It is one of the albums profiled in the 2007 book ''
Check the Technique'', which includes a track-by-track breakdown by Diamond, Yauch, Horovitz, Caldato, and frequent Beasties collaborator
Money Mark
Mark Ramos Nishita (born February 10, 1960), known professionally as Money Mark, is an American producer and musician, best known for his collaborations with the Beastie Boys from 1992 until 2011.
Early life
Born in Detroit to a Japanese-Hawai ...
.
Background
''Check Your Head'' was the first Beastie Boys album to be fully co-produced by
Mario Caldato Jr., who had been an engineer on ''Paul's Boutique'' and was credited as producer on that album's track "
Ask for Janice
Ask is the active verb for a direct question.
Ask may also refer to:
Places
* Ask, Akershus, a village in Gjerdrum municipality, Viken county, Norway
* Ask, Buskerud, a village in Ringerike municipality, Viken county, Norway
* Ask, Vestland, ...
".
It also marked the first appearance on one of their albums of keyboardist
Money Mark
Mark Ramos Nishita (born February 10, 1960), known professionally as Money Mark, is an American producer and musician, best known for his collaborations with the Beastie Boys from 1992 until 2011.
Early life
Born in Detroit to a Japanese-Hawai ...
, who became a regular collaborator of the band.
The album was somewhat of a return by the Beastie Boys to their
punk
Punk or punks may refer to:
Genres, subculture, and related aspects
* Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres
* Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...
roots. It featured the trio playing their own instruments on the majority of the album, for the first time on record since their early
EPs, due to the commercial failure of ''Paul's Boutique''.
This inspired photographer
Glen E. Friedman
Glen Ellis Friedman (born March 3, 1962) is an American photographer and artist. He became known for his activities within rebellious skateboarding and music cultures. Photographing artists Fugazi, Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, Circle Jerks, Minor ...
to shoot photos of the Beasties with their instrument cases, one of which was used as the cover of the album.
Supposedly, a
trading card for
Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr.
Herbert Norman Schwarzkopf Jr. (; August 22, 1934 – December 27, 2012) was a United States Army general. While serving as the commander of United States Central Command, he led all Coalition of the Gulf War, coalition forces in the Gulf ...
from a set of
Desert Storm trading cards
Desert Storm trading cards are sets of trading cards that feature people and equipment involved in the Persian Gulf War. The cards were published in the United States by various companies and the size of sets varied greatly between companies (such ...
was the inspiration for the album's title.
The Beastie Boys toured with the
Rollins Band and
Cypress Hill in early 1992 to support ''Check Your Head''.
Critical reception
''Check Your Head'' has received widepsread acclaim since its release. Kevin Powell of ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'' called ''Check Your Head'' the Beastie Boys' "most unconventional outing to date" and stated that "the cross-pollination of styles on ''Check Your Head'' is confusing at times, yet the album achieves distinction because of its ingenuity."
Greg Kot
Greg Kot (born March 3, 1957) is an American music journalist and author. From 1990 until 2020, Kot was the rock music critic at the ''Chicago Tribune'', where he covered popular music and reported on music-related social, political and busines ...
of the ''
Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...
'' wrote that the group were showing "surprising resiliency and versatility", noting their new musical direction on ''Check Your Head'' and singling out
Money Mark
Mark Ramos Nishita (born February 10, 1960), known professionally as Money Mark, is an American producer and musician, best known for his collaborations with the Beastie Boys from 1992 until 2011.
Early life
Born in Detroit to a Japanese-Hawai ...
's performance on the album for praise, referring to him as the album's "secret weapon".
''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...
''s
David Browne, on the other hand, panned the album as a "muddled, clanking mess".
Robert Christgau of ''
The Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, th ...
'' called ''Check Your Head'' a "great concept", but felt "the execution is halfway there at best", later assigning it a "neither" rating, indicating an album that "may impress once or twice with consistent craft or an arresting track or two. Then it won't."
''
Spin'' ranked ''Check Your Head'' at number four on their list of the 20 best albums of the year, and it ranked in fifth place on ''The Village Voice''s year-end
Pazz & Jop
Pazz & Jop was an annual poll of top musical releases, compiled by American newspaper ''The Village Voice'' and created by music critic Robert Christgau. It published lists of the year's top releases for 1971 and, after Christgau's two-year abs ...
critics' poll. ''Spin'' later ranked the album number 12 on their list of the 90 greatest albums of the 1990s, while ''
Alternative Press
Alternative press may refer to:
Individual publications
* ''Alternative Press'' (magazine), an American music magazine
Alternative journalism
* Alternative media
** Alternative media (U.S. political left)
** Alternative media (U.S. political ri ...
'' ranked it at number 23 on their list of the top 99 albums released from 1985–95. ''
Pitchfork
A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves.
The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...
'' ranked the album at number 67 on their Top 150 Albums of the 1990s list in 2022, praising the album's funk-inspired instrumentals. In a retrospective review,
Stephen Thomas Erlewine of
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...
called ''Check Your Head'' "a whirlwind tour through the Beasties' pop-culture obsessions, but instead of spinning into Technicolor fantasies, it's earth-bound D.I.Y. that makes it all seem equally accessible — which is a big reason why it turned out to be an
alt-rock
Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...
touchstone of the '90s, something that both set trends and predicted them."
It was ranked number 261 in the 2020 edition of ''Rolling Stone''s
500 Greatest Albums of All-Time list (though it was not ranked in the original 2003 list or the 2012 revision).
Track listing
All tracks written by Beastie Boys (
Adam Yauch
Adam Nathaniel Yauch ( ; August 5, 1964 – May 4, 2012), better known under the stage name MCA, was an American rapper, bass player, filmmaker and a founding member of the hip hop group Beastie Boys. Besides his musical work, he also directed ...
,
Michael Diamond,
Adam Horovitz) and
"Money" Mark Nishita, except where noted.
Personnel
;Beastie Boys
*
Ad-Rock
Adam Keefe Horovitz (born October 31, 1966), popularly known as Ad-Rock, is an American rapper, guitarist and actor. He was a member of the hip-hop group Beastie Boys. While Beastie Boys were active, Horovitz performed with a side project, BS ...
– vocals, guitar
*
MCA – vocals, bass
*
Mike D
Michael Louis Diamond (born November 20, 1965), better known as Mike D, is an American rapper, musician, and music producer. He is best known as a founding member of the hip hop group Beastie Boys.
Early life
Diamond was born in New York Cit ...
– vocals, drums
;Additional personnel
*
Money Mark
Mark Ramos Nishita (born February 10, 1960), known professionally as Money Mark, is an American producer and musician, best known for his collaborations with the Beastie Boys from 1992 until 2011.
Early life
Born in Detroit to a Japanese-Hawai ...
– organ, synthesizer, keyboards,
clavinet,
Wurlitzer
The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to as simply Wurlitzer, is an American company started in Cincinnati in 1853 by German immigrant (Franz) Rudolph Wurlitzer. The company initially imported stringed, woodwind and brass instruments ...
*James Bradley, Jr. (Tracks 2, 4, 10, 13, 16, 20) – percussion
*Juanito Vazquez (Tracks 5, 15) – percussion (
cuica,
conga)
*Art Oliva (Tracks 5, 19) – percussion (
batá, shakeree)
*Drew Lawrence (Track 6) – percussion (tamboura, mridunga)
*
Marcel Hall – vocals on "The Biz Vs. The Nuge"
*
Alexandra "Xan" Cassavetes (credited as "Nax Setevassac") – background vocals on "The Maestro"
;Technical personnel
*Beastie Boys – producer
*
Mario Caldato, Jr. – producer, engineer
*Tom Baker – mastering
*
Glen E. Friedman
Glen Ellis Friedman (born March 3, 1962) is an American photographer and artist. He became known for his activities within rebellious skateboarding and music cultures. Photographing artists Fugazi, Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, Circle Jerks, Minor ...
– photography
Charts
Certifications
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
1992 albums
Beastie Boys albums
Capitol Records albums
Albums produced by Mario Caldato Jr.
Rapcore albums
Alternative rock albums by American artists